Even ECC is affected.
Solid state memory, such as the DRAM modules running in the very computer you're likely reading this on, is typically thought of as pretty flawless.
While errors are commonplace for processors (making them many times per second), memory is never thought of first when files are corrupted - but a study by a Google employee seems to suggest otherwise.
Taking a survey of the thousands of servers under their control, Google tracked thousands of DRAM modules across every type from DDR1 to DDR2 in densities ranging from the smallest to the largest.
Surprisingly they found that it didn't matter what type of memory was being used at the time; while 8% of modules have errors, this averages out to a whopping 3,751 errors per stick every year.
The study seems to narrow the problem down to the motherboards that the DRAM is running in rather than the sticks themselves, but if a server experiences an error it is incredibly likely to experience another one in that same year.
It's definitely something to think about for those running mission-critical applications that run in memory exclusively, considering that standard DIMMs we run don't have even basic error checking.
Head over to ZDnet to read a little more about the problem.
Issue: 133 | February, 2012